Broken Strings
by HerThoughtsOnPaper
Summary: As a kid, Kendall Knight always had trouble making friends - even with the oddest boy in the neighborhood, who didn't quite seem to have any friends himself. As years go on, though, things get better for Kendall; he makes friends of two boys who eventually become his best friends. But what happens when that odd boy from his past makes a reappearance in Kendall's life? Kogan!
1. Prologue

Amid a rather chilly afternoon in the small town of Shakopee, Minnesota, a young boy trudged rather dejectedly along the uneven sidewalk lining the neighborhood in which he lived. The air was thick, chilly as it nipped at his skin, and as he walked he carried with him a thin, foot-long branch, broken off of the mulberry tree that had been standing tall in his front yard for as long as he could remember. As a sort of habit, he dragged one tattered end of the branch absently along the sturdy metal wire making up the chain-link fence trailing his left side.

The large, rather emotionless green eyes belonging to the child remained downcast for the most part, thoughtfully analyzing each and every fault adorning the pavement beneath the boy's small feet. As he walked, he made sure to step carefully overtop of both major and minor cracks in the pavement - always cautious of "step-on-a-crack" rule - while the continuous _'clink-clink-clink'_ of branch-to-fence as well as the scuffing of a pair of long-worn, white Nike tennis shoes upon the concrete ground sufficed for silence.

Of course, being only 8 years of age, Kendall knew well that he wasn't allowed to venture all-too-far. It was by his mother, Jen Knight's rule that he only walk as far as the stop sign at one end of their street. Usually, upon reaching that stop sign, he would simply turn and stride in the opposite direction, back down the street and on to the opposite corner. Here, he would come upon the item that his mother had given him as a second 'Yield' signal, so to speak: The white picket fence lining the last yard on that end of the street. From that point on, as there was not a third checkpoint that he was permitted to trek on toward, he would repeat his five-minute journey, walking from end to end of his small street, from stop sign to white picket fence until his feet ached and his stomach growled with the need for food.

Kendall was certainly aware that a boy of his age should have been doing far more than walking back and forth, up and down a street by himself for hours upon hours, and if he had had his way, he would have been doing more than that - that was, had it not been for the fact that not a single family out of the several occupying the houses in their neighborhood contained a child of his age. There were no young children (save for him) in the neighborhood; just teenagers and adults, whom he surely wouldn't have been allowed to spend time with. Due to this there wasn't truly all too much for Kendall to occupy his youthful mind with aside from or the seemingly endless street-end-to-street-end walk, upon which he always brought with him that battered, rapidly-eroding tree branch. As many times as he had gone on this walk, he was nearly positive, by now, that he knew every last aspect of his street. There never seemed to be any new sights to see, or anyone to meet who hadn't lived in the neighborhood for years longer than he had.

Today, however, as he walked on down the street, humming to himself the melody of an old song that he had once overheard his mother listening to, all of that seemed to change in an instant. Drawing his eyes upward upon reaching one of his two markers, Kendall immediately noticed something different – or someone different, rather. Across the street from the white picket fence that he had only just approached, perched upon the front step of a home that had long-since been up for sale, was a small, wide-eyed little boy who appeared to be close to his age.

The sight of a young, unfamiliar face in his neighborhood brought the walking child's feet skidding to a stop. For a moment, the 8-year-old merely stood, gazing across the road at the small-bodied child. At the first, the kid seemed to be just like any other young boy that Kendall had ever seen. However, after a moment or two of observing the newcomer, the green-eyed boy became quite curious.

The dark-haired little boy appeared to be rocking forward and back oddly as he wrung his hands around and around one another, his entire frame, petite as it was, jittering oddly as though he were caught in the middle of one of Minnesota's notoriously icy winter storms. Of course, these things came off to the young, light-eyed blonde as extremely strange; he had never seen any of the children from his 2nd grade class act in the way that this boy did. He had never seen anyone, truly – his age or not – look so nervous, so on-edge.

Nonetheless, despite the first impression that the porcelain skinned little boy gave off, as he had resided within the elm-tree and crab-grass ridden neighborhood for the entirety of his life without a single friend, Kendall grinned, quick to snatch up the chance to befriend someone new. Perhaps this boy could be someone whom he would be able to see on a regular basis – unlike the kids from school, all of whom he barely knew, and didn't quite live close enough to to spend any real time with.

Without a second thought, Kendall glanced twice in either direction, as he had been taught, before striding forward across the gravel-coated street. He tapped the end of his thinned-out branch to his thigh, wearing a nothing-less-than-friendly smile as he practically skipped toward the spot in which the other boy sat. On several occasions, his mother had told him firmly never to cross the street if there wasn't an adult with him, but in the moment, his eight-year-old mind told him that she would think differently of this occasion; he was going to make a new friend. His mother had always talked about wanting him to make new friends. She wouldn't mind, just this once.

For a moment, the new boy didn't seem to take notice of the chipper blonde approaching him – he simply proceeded to rock forward and back, forward and back in that odd way, perched upon the front step of his home. His upper body was hunched over top of his knees, and his arms were folded tightly over his chest. His slightly undersized body proceeded to jitter as he seemingly gazed directly through his one-person welcoming party, messy dark hair partially shielding his doe-eyes as he looked on.

"Hi…" Kendall spoke in a clearly eager tone of voice, leaning forward slightly in attempts of catching the edgy child's gaze. However, seemingly as soon as he spoke, his new neighborhood-mate flinched rather violently, as though someone had struck him. The boy's long, dark eyelashes fluttered rapidly as his breathing became shallow, forced, and he began to stammer.

"I – I…" he stuttered, winding his frail-looking arms around himself as his slight frame began shuddering near twice as fiercely as it had been just moments ago. It seemed that he was doing all that he could to force out a word or two. At this Kendall's polite smile faded, and he tilted his head just a bit, stepping ever-so-slightly closer to the newcomer before him.

"Why are you shaking..? Are you cold..?" he asked gently, once again beginning to tap the lengthy branch that he held in hand lightly against his right thigh. Once again, the smaller boy began to splutter, every attempt at a solid word a failure as his eyes seemed to widen further and further each time that the rough surface of the wood made contact with the denim of Kendall's jeans. At the lack of response as well as the apparently frightened response to his friendly greeting, Kendall was baffled.

Breathing a gentle puff of air from his lungs as he jutted his full lower lip outward, the slightly larger child watched as the large, deep brown eyes belonging to the boy before him darted about hectically, every so often peering up at him. The looks that the boy gave him could never quite be classified as real gazes, though, as they never seemed to last longer than a millisecond or two. Each time that those big eyes did find Kendall's befuddled gaze, they merely flitted away immediately after, never once ceasing their flurry of movement in means of rest – or focus, for that matter.  
_Still_, however, Kendall remained determined to make a friend out of the boy. Whether he was simply startled by the bold approach, or he was just a strange kid, the young blonde didn't know, or care, really – since, quite honestly, despite his kind nature, he was ready at this point to take whatever friends he could possibly get. And so, shifting his hands to hold his 12-inch tree branch curled into both palms, now, the friendly 2nd grader stepped forward and to the left just a bit, readily claiming a seat upon the porch beside the new boy. Turning in the slightest toward the boy then after, he held out his left hand.

"My name's Kendall… what's your name? You're new here, right?" he grinned rather brightly, making a valiant effort, once again, to meet his new, partial acquaintance's eyes. Asking someone's name was the simplest thing that he possibly could have done, right? There wasn't a way in the world that the timid boy wouldn't be able to communicate his own name. Remaining hopeful, Kendall honestly expected that he had to get a response this time around. However, the bright, hopeful young boy received from the edgy child before him something that he hadn't at all come to expect.  
Once again jumping no less than a few inches off of the porch, the newcomer emitted a small, frightened sort of squeak. This occurred merely half a second before he raised his left hand to swat Kendall's extended hand from anywhere near his body, and his right to connect a rather forceful punch to a single one of the other boy's baffled green eyes, as well as the brow bone surrounding it.

Gasping sharply as hot tears swelled rapidly along the brims of his eyelids, Kendall pulled as far back from the brunette as he was able and glared (although the "vicious sneer" consisted far more of hurt and rejection than of anger) at him.

"H – Hey, what was that for?!" he squealed in that infuriated, high-pitched tone of voice that seemed to peek from within him every so often. In response to the words, the fragile-looking boy distanced from Kendall just as Kendall had from him, promptly shielding his wide, doe-eyes as well as the majority of his boyish face behind tremulous hands. From behind those quivering, boney fingers radiated gentle sniffles, and every so often, noises that indicated muffled sobbing.

"I… s – s… - no…" he blubbered, seemingly not able to complete any one full sentence – though, clearly, that wasn't an unusual thing for him – between the broken sounds prying their way free of his lungs and the intense, lingering glare of the larger boy before him.

"Why are _you_ crying?!" Kendall sniveled. "_You're_ the one who hit me, meanie!" As he wailed the sentence, he stood from the porch abruptly, flinging his fence-worn branch aside, somewhere off into the grass embellishing the yard belonging to the other boy's new home. As he stood there for a moment, he began to sniffle sharply every few seconds, watching as the dainty, porcelain-skinned boy continued crying; tears mingled with the clear drainage from his button nose as he rubbed at his reddening eyes, and little hiccups escaped his lungs near every other moment. On any other occasion, Kendall would have felt a deep sort of sympathy for anyone that he saw crying this way. However, after just a second or two, he simply turned away from this new "neighbor" of his and sprinted out onto the sidewalk, and after a moment, across the street without bothering to look for cars, this time.

The 8-year-old ran and ran, as fast as he possibly could. The unevenly paved sidewalk leading toward his home seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, and nearly succeeded in tripping him a good few times as he cupped one palm over his gradually swelling left eye. He didn't understand – he hadn't even the slightest idea as to what it was that he had done wrong, why the dark-haired little boy had so suddenly decided to strike him the way that he had. Why was it that he couldn't seem to make a real friend to save his life? What was it about him that other kids of his age found so repulsive?

Young Kendall seemed to wonder ever-so-constantly when it was, exactly, that he would gain the 'best friend' that each one of his classmates seemed to possess already; and beside that, why it was so utterly hard for him to find someone who could have fit the role. He was friendly, wasn't he? And he certainly wasn't judgmental… For such a young, innocent mind, not having a best friend of similar age was a completely Earth-shattering matter… particularly, for a mind as friendly and willing as Kendall's.  
However, little did anyone realize, it would come to be much more difficult - throughout the years, not only in childhood - for the young brunette that had just been left alone, bawling upon the front porch of his new home, to find and keep a best friend, or even just an acquaintance, than it would ever be for Kendall.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Carlos Garcia sighed thickly as a group of the students of Shakopee High sluggishly filed out of the crowded hallways and into the classroom reserved for Mrs. Jones 11th grade English class. Shaking his head and raising a skeptical eyebrow, he smirked as the minute-warning bell echoed over intercom.

"Can one of you _please_ tell me how all three of us got stuck with the same hard-headed English teacher? For the _third_ time in our three years at this junkyard of school?" muttered the short, stocky Latino with a quiet chuckle as he moved to his usual back-row seat with his two closest friends, James Diamond and Kendall Knight. Most of the time the shortest of the three boys was happy-go-lucky and energetic to no end, but today in particular – being the first day back from summer break – he was quite exhausted.

Kendall grinned as he slid into his respective seat – positioned in between each of his friends' desks – and chuckled a bit as he clapped a hand over each of the two boys' shoulders.

"Hard-headed is an _understatement_, Carlitos. She's the most uptight woman in this entire building." he said in a hushed tone, shaking his head as well as he dipped a hand into his already-cluttered book bag to extract a few sheets of lined paper as well as a half-sharpened pencil.

"No kidding, dudes," James sighed exasperatedly. "I heard from Jenny that we're stuck doing some stupid project _already._" Each one of the boys, as well as any student near to them who may have overheard the tall, pretty boy's comment either sighed audibly or uttered a discouraged sort of groan.

"She _cannot _be serious!" Carlos whined, hunching forward in his seat and thumping his forehead rather dramatically upon the carving-embellished surface of his desk.

Kendall, Carlos, and James were all be headed into their junior year of high school, which, to the three hockey players, meant nothing more than the fact that they were a mere two years away from breaking free of the seemingly personally designed hell; the hell that every student walking the face of the Earth was forced to refer to as school.

And, just as if it had been on cue, the hellish atmosphere to the closed-off building-full-of-books-and-whiteboards only seemed to be intensified by ten as, at the sound of her students' groaning, Mrs. Jones snapped to attention. Standing up from behind her desk as a taut, impish sort of smirk set in upon her aging features, she cleared her throat, making her presence known to her last group of students for the day.

"You bet your life's savings that I'm serious, Mr. Garcia," she leered, taking her usual predominant stance before the class of young adults. A heavy chorus of sighs echoed throughout the classroom at the appearance of the woman in charge. At nearly the same moment, the tardy bell sounded, coming together in odd harmony with the students' exasperated exhalation.

"Alright, class. As Mr. Diamond and Mr. Garcia were _saying_, we _will _be working on a review project for the duration of this coming week, so I do hope that all of you kept last year's Language Arts notes on hand." At this particular statement, seemingly every last pair of teenage eyes widened… this was the first dayof school, and already, this so-called teacher was making an attempt to pulverize their grade point average?

"What normal 16-year-old kid keeps useless English notes over the entire summer vacation?!" James whispered heatedly to Carlos and Kendall as he ran a hand through that notoriously perfect head of hair. Kendall chuckled dryly at the comment… for once, James was absolutely right.

"Anyhow, you'll be able to work in pairs… hopefully you are all _actually _willing to work, so that you will _all _get a decent first grade…" the elderly teacher spoke in a tone of voice that sounded almost bored, waving her hands about absently. The way that she was acting, it was as though she was reluctant as could be to make the jobs of her students easier in any way. However, as she went on, the room full of young people came to realize that making this project easier for them was nowhere near her true intention. "If I were you, I would start brainstorming ideas now – the project can include absolutely any material from last year's curriculum, whether you want to write an essay or make a poster board. Your partners, however, will be chosen by _me_."

Kendall, upon hearing James and Carlos' frustrated grunts of disapproval blended with each of the other students', sighed thickly. The fact that the class would have partners assignedto them rather than choosing for themselves held absolutely no significance for the fair-haired teenager; at least, not in times such as now, when his two closest friends were bothin the class with him, and would undoubtedly cling to each others' sides at the mere mention of free-reign on two-person projects. Turning just slightly in each direction to glance at his two frustrated friends, Kendall raised an eyebrow.

"Sad to know what _I_ feel like every once in a while, yeah?" he smirked, chuckling lightly and shielding himself as Carlos wadded up a piece of paper torn from his spiral notebook and hurled it at his head.

"Yeah, whatever Ken_dork_." James muttered, shaking his head as he proceeded to doodle upon the surface of his desk with his pen, expression still none-too-satisfied. Nevertheless, though, a gleaming smile built upon his handsome face moments later as his pen ceased its incessant scribbling and he shifted in his seat to glance up at Kendall. "Besides, you need to stop being such a little girl about the fact that you're always paired with some stranger. Make some new friends and maybe you wouldn't be so lonely all of the time."

Sneering in the direction of his cocky friend, Kendall snorted. "And what are you, pretty boy? My mother?" he laughed quietly as his playful sneer reformed and instead took on the profile of a crooked grin; the irony of his statement was that the things that James had said _actually _sounded like something that Mrs. Knight might have said.

Choosing to ignore whatever witty comment James might have shot back at him, Kendall turned in his seat once again, sighing softly as he caught sight of Mrs. Jones striding up and down the aisles created by the desks' arrangement. She appeared to be pausing at each of his fellow classmates' desks to give them the name of their partner for this review project that she was so dead-set upon.

As the nearly burnt-out-for-the-day blonde boy – as this _was _their last class of the day – observed his classmates' reactions, he sighed audibly, pursing his lips for a moment… very few of the students appeared genuinely happy for the partner that they had been given. A few looked to be simply indifferent, but the majority of the teenagers in the room appeared extremely disappointed, and some, even slightly appalled. _Well_, Kendall thought to himself, _this _is_ high school… where the brains are small, and the sense of acceptance is smaller. _

In any case, as the shaggy-haired young man proceeded to scan each student's expression, gauging reactions, still, he came across one in particular that was quite odd. At the opposite end of the room, Kendall spotted a head of dark hair attached to a jittery pair of shoulders. He bit down upon his lower lip tentatively at the sight of the kid, his brow furrowing just slightly. He really only had a profile view of the boy, but he could see that the brunette was equipped a pair of dark, glasses-framed eyes, which, after a moment or two, coincidentally found their way upward to gaze toward Kendall. The expression garnishing the two chocolate-colored orbs, as Kendall could now see them clearly, appeared to be slightly fearful. Tilting his head to the side a bit as he observed the boy, the blonde began to nibble thoughtfully at his chapped lower lip. After a moment's worth of analyzing the boy's odd expression, though, it seemed that the petite young man noticed that he had been caught staring, because his eyes snapped downward as soon as he caught Kendall's eyes.

Breathing a somewhat heavy sigh, Kendall turned his gaze toward the floor as well, shaking his head slowly. The boy had looked only slightly familiar – like someone, perhaps, that he had passed by at the supermarket while helping his mother and younger sister, Katie, with the grocery shopping – but had certainly seemed to know him. Be that as it may, however, something about those strange eyes had caught the quick-witted teenager by the throat. Whatever that something may have been, it had rendered his mind completely blank for a moment, and had stolen whatever snide remark he had been about to spew about the kid's staring right off of his tongue.

Shaking off the odd sense of vulnerability that the teenager's gaze had left him with, though, Kendall turned 90 degrees in his seat, and was about to say something to James about the kid when he was interrupted by Mrs. Jones, who had just stepped directly in-between their seats. Fighting off the urge to scowl at the elderly woman, Kendall cleared his throat, nodded a bit stiffly to her, and forced the corners of his lips upward into a halfhearted smile. The gesture was responded to with nothing more than a slightly annoyed sneer, however, as Mrs. Jones tapped the lid of her "Century Credit Bureau" pen twice upon the edge of Kendall's desk.

"Mr. Knight," she began rather firmly, using her left index finger to nudge her ancient, wire-framed glasses upward upon the bridge of her nose, "you'll be paired with Logan Mitchell. Handle him carefully, I beg of you – he's been appointed to more than his fair share of disadvantages over the course of his school life."

Kendall raised a brow quizzically as his most-usually stone-cold Language Arts teacher moved onto the next student: James, to his left. Mrs. Jones seemed to have spoken her last two sentences with an uncanny amount of concern for his apparent project partner, and this baffled the fair-skinned teenager, regarding the fact that the woman never seemed to be truly _kind _to anyone. He sighed quietly once again as he shifted to face forward in his seat.

Of course, he had never met this boy – Logan – and so he was having a reasonably difficult time imagining what sorts of "disadvantages" he may or may not have come upon in life… all that he really knew was that whatever they were, they had to have been pretty serious if even Mrs. Jones was taking some odd form of pity on him. As Kendall proceeded to ponder the possibilities, however, there was an eager tap to his left shoulder, leading him to swivel in his seat once again to face the brunette at his left side.

"Yeah, Jay?" he muttered a bit distantly, blinking his eyes out of their slight haze momentarily as he attempted to halt his thought process just long enough to hear what his friend had to say.

"Hey Kendall, I heard that you got paired with that Mitchell kid." James mused with a small smirk on his face before softening his voice significantly as he spoke his next words. "I heard he's a real weirdo, man… has some kind of freakish disease or something crazy like that."

Thick brows knitting at the center of his broad forehead, the slightly shorter, skinnier teenager shook his head skeptically. "What the hell, James? That's not the greatest thing to say about some kid you've never met, huh?" he accused his ever-shallow friend, resting his chin in one hand after a short moment or two. "Besides, what does it matter if he has a _disability_?"

At the correction of his accusation, James shrugged his shoulders and laughed softly, raising his hands before him submissively. "I don't know, dude. All I'm saying is that if he _happens _to give that disability to you, you better stay away from _me_. I don't want anything messing with the old fashioned _James Diamond _charm," the taller boy simpered, gesturing toward himself in that ever-so-egotistical way – according to everyone but himself, of course – before grinning and turning in his seat to talk to a pretty, dark-haired girl at his side.

Scoffing, Kendall shook his head, turning so that he, _again_, sat straightforward in his seat. "_Idiot… Most of the rumors you hear in school are complete garbage." _the thoughtful boy muttered to himself, trailing one slender hand through his hair.

Kendall had just been about to allow himself to fall back into thought, when suddenly there was a loud crash at the left side of the room. It seemed to have been created by several pens and pencils, among other things, tumbling down from someone's desk. The commotion immediately drew Kendall's attention, and upon turning his head, he came to realize that the same boy who had been eyeing him earlier on had now dropped a black, plastic pencil case to the floor accidentally, leaving various items scattered about beneath his own desk and in the aisle. Kendall sighed, racking every last square inch of his mind in the effort of locating the memory that would exactly tell him _when _and _where _he had seen this boy outside of school.

As the blonde's eyes lingered over the dark-eyed, jittery young man, however, as distinctive frown began to take its place upon his angular features at the sight before him.

"What's the matter, Mitchell?" a tall, light-haired boy leered, reaching forward from his seat - one of the desks in the front-row – to swat the bundle of pencils that the timid boy had just gathered from the floor out of his hands once again. "Have you had a little too much _peace _and _happiness _for one day, spaz?"

The slightly shorter, porcelain-skinned young man violently flinched at the harsh contact of the other kid's hand to his own, emitting what sounded to be several breathless little whimpers as he held the hand that had been offended near to his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly behind his thick-lensed glasses as he cowered, giving himself the appearance of a frightened child. After a moment or two, however, the frightened boy reached forward once again, torso and hands trembling as he scooped up as many pencils, oblong erasers, and pens as he possibly could within the span of just a few seconds.

Another student – this one a snarky, red-headed female – took advantage of the kid's bent over position, and gave him a rough shove forward by the shoulders, causing him to tumble forward and land upon his knees as he hit the floor.

"Glad we could help," the redhead leered as she sat back in her seat, watching as the first offender reached for the boy a second time. By this point, however, one extremely irritated Kendall Knight had already stood up and was striding pointedly into the center of the scene that was being made. He stopped before the tall, sandy-haired kid's desk and scowled.

"Y'know, he probably wouldn't _be _the way that he is if _assholes_ like you would leave him alone. Lay off, would'ja?" he snapped, not giving the guy a chance to respond before moving on.

Choosing not to acknowledge the young woman who had shoved the kid to his knees, Kendall stepped into the aisle between the desks of the timid boy and the bully, kneeling to help his apparent class partner collect his belongings.

"Hey, are you okay, kid?" Kendall asked in a kind tone of voice, offering the petite boy a smile. The only response that Kendall received from the other teen was a barely-audible whimper, as he proceeded to gather his belongings from the floor that they had been scattered upon. Frowning a bit once again, the good-willed blonde boy reached out toward the boy with a handful of pencils and erasers. His project partner merely held forth his pencil case in response – no thank you, no kind smile.

Kendall dropped the objects into the case even so, and then continued to help gather up scattered objects. As soon as he was sure that he and Logan had gathered every last stray pencil and eraser, he stood. Offering a hand to his new acquaintance, who remained upon his knees, he smiled once again. However, Kendall's kind gesture seemed to have gone entirely unnoticed as the young man concentrated solely upon latching his pencil case shut, then-after swiveling to replace the plastic container upon the desk from which it had fallen. Even as he had accomplished that small feat, he took it entirely upon himself to get to his feet. This disappointed Kendall slightly. However, in his independent attempt, the shorter boy had managed to brush against Kendall's outstretched palm accidentally.

In response to what wasn't any more than feather-light contact, the brunette yelped quietly, stumbling backward from the boy before him and into the edge of his desk. His breathing seemed to have intensified, and noticing this, Kendall lowered his hand as he watched with careful eyes. The young man had taken to rubbing ferociously at his shoulder –the spot that Kendall's hand had brushed – and his teeth had begun gnashing at his full lower lip. As Kendall gauged this reaction warily, something seemed to occur to him.

"You… don't like being touched, do you?" Kendall asked, leaning against an empty desk in the second row of chairs. For the first time since the taller boy had caught him staring those few moments before Mrs. Jones had arrived at his desk, the sketchy boy drew his gaze upward, momentarily catching his class partner's eyes and speaking very softly.

"N – No…" he muttered, shaking his head erratically from side to side. Kendall tilted his head, hoping to keep the young man's gaze long enough to provide him with a bit of reassurance.

"Oka, well… you won't have to worry while we're working together… I'm not a mean guy, and I won't push your boundaries," he promised, offering yet another smile to his new acquaintance. The boy cleared his throat in an odd fashion, gazing hesitantly into his classmate's eyes for a moment more before averting his gaze. After a moment, he spoke quietly once again as his hands began to fidget before him.

"K – Kendall… thank you," he murmured. His voiced was strained-sounding, and his long, dark eyelashes fluttered in a way that could have been considered innocent and childlike.

As he finally received a reaction, the smile upon the Kendall's lips broadened, and he chuckled quietly before he spoke his next words. "No problem, kid… you're Logan, right?" he asked, a gleam shining through in his eyes. For reasons unbeknownst to him, he felt confident that he might be the one to bring this kid out of his shell. Nodding sharply, Logan again met Kendall's gaze for a brief moment. He nudged his glasses upward a bit, back into their rightful place before his eyes, before lowering his eyes.

"Y – Yeah… s'me," he stuttered, those teeth of his still chewing away at his unfortunate lower lip. Watching with intrigue as Logan dug his pearly-white incisors into the soft flesh of his lip, Kendall sighed, though he still smiled amicably.

"Okay, Logan… it's nice to meet you," he mused, offering a hand at first before remembering Logan's aversion to touch and withdrawing the motion with a sheepish little chuckle.

Just as Logan opened his mouth to respond to Kendall's words, he was cut off by the ear-drum-piercing ring of the school's final bell. Flinching a bit at the sound, he shook his head. Kendall had been about to smile politely once more and make his way toward the back of the class to collect his things, but before he had the chance, Logan pursed his lips, and milliseconds later reached forward with electric speed to grip Kendall's hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Okay," he spoke before turning around and hastily scooping his possessions up into his arms, hurriedly moving to brush past Kendall and out of the room. Remaining still for a moment due to the slight shock caused by Logan's gesture, Kendall shook his head a bit for the umpteenth time that class period, huffing quietly as he rolled his shoulders a bit. It took him a moment to shake off that same odd sense of vulnerability that he had felt earlier as a result of Logan's gaze. He wasn't honestly sure whether he should be uplifted by the rushed contact, or simply confused.

After a moment, as he finally turned and walked back to his desk to collect his belongings, Kendall's confusion was elevated further - this time thanks to the voice that rung in from behind him as he slung his book-bag over his shoulder.

"I can tell that you're going to be a good match for Logan," Mrs. Jones spoke in an uncharacteristically kind tone of voice, catching the attention of the student before her instantly.

"Um… well, yeah, I guess. He needs a friend," Kendall spoke in an odd voice – one that clearly conveyed the confusion that he felt – as he made his way toward the door. He still wasn't accustomed to the _nicer_ side of this woman, but being the kind person that he was, he managed a polite smile as Mrs. Jones nodded to him.

"Yes, yes he does," she mused, gazing down upon the paperwork littering her desk for a moment. She sighed softly and raised her eyes to meet Kendall's once again a few seconds later. "Oh, and Mr. Knight – I know that you had nothing but good intentions in sticking up for the boy, but _please, _at least _try _and save the foul language for the hockey rink."

Kendall laughed a bit, smiling more genuinely as he reached the doorway. "Sure thing, Mrs. Jones. Sorry," he said, and with that and a polite nod, made his way out of the classroom and into the school's hallways, which he then navigated throughout to locate his new locker for the year. From there, it was on to hockey practice.


	3. Chapter Two

**JESUS GUYS, LOOK WHO FINALLY UPDATED. And it's even a long chapter. :D I hope you don't all hate me for taking a million years... Life has been busy. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Review pretty please. :)**

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Chapter Two

"So… what's up with the dude anyways?" Carlos asked Kendall as he and his friend made their way along the narrow road leading from the back doors of their school. The two friends had made a routine of walking home together after hockey practice – most of the way, at least, since Carlos lived just one street from Kendall.

Huffing exasperatedly as he turned his head to offer his curious friend a smile, Kendall shook his head. "Nothing is _up_ with him, Carlitos. He just… doesn't like to be touched, that's all. And people seem to like taking advantage of that and making it worse." The newly beanie-clad boy (since hats were never allowed in school) clarified, gripping the long-worn straps of his book bag as the heavy carrying case clung to his spine.

Carlos, determined as he was, gave an exaggerated _'humph'. _His shoulders slumped as he pouted. "But why?" the Latino muttered, making a quizzical gesture with his hands before allowing them to fall limp at his sides. "It doesn't make any sense."

Chuckling exhaustedly as he lowered his gaze to the pavement, Kendall leaned to nudge his friend in a playful manner. The good-natured action caused Carlos to stumble a bit, however, as he was so much smaller than Kendall.

"You and James, I swear to god, dude," Kendall smirked, tapping his fingers upon his denim-clad thigh as he proceeded to walk at his friend's side. "It's not like I interrogated him. I was just defending him from the jerks that were harassing him. We only talked for a minute or two before the bell rang and he took off."

Returning the taller boy's playful nudge with a friendly punch to the shoulder, Carlos shook his head, laughing quietly to himself as he shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Sorry Ken, I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm just… curious, y'know?" the friendly 11th grader clarified, absently kicking a small stone that lie in his path as they rounded their usual corner and began their walk toward Kendall's street. Smirking as he watched the stone that Carlos had kicked roll across the grass and tumble into the gutter, the blonde sighed thoughtfully.

"I think I would be worried if you weren't curious, Carlitos," he mused, earning a snort from his loveable friend. Since the short-lived conversation concerning Kendall's project partner had pleasantly concluded, the remainder of the stretch toward the thoughtful boy's respective path consisted mostly of small talk and playful banter; mostly involving respective classes, school assignments, and upcoming hockey games.

When it came time for the two to part ways, goodbyes were exchanged in the form of good-natured sarcasm and a brotherly shove or two. As things finally did settle down a bit, Carlos offered Kendall a friendly wave.

"Well Ken, I hope your project works out… and your partner too," the shorter of the two boys smirked, reaching out to pat his friend on the shoulder once more. Chuckling and sighing quietly, Kendall nodded his head as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his zip-front hoodie.

"Thanks," he spoke coolly, shrugging his shoulders as he pursed his lips a moment before smiling back at Carlos. "Same to you, I guess. Good luck with that girl you're paired with. I'll see you tomorrow, bud."

With a smile or two and a farewell nod each, the two 17-year-olds parted ways, Kendall veering around the corner and starting toward his home as Carlos kept on toward his own street. Now, as he always did when walking the short distance to his house on his own, Kendall fished through each and every one of his pockets until he found his iPod. Pulling the small device from the blue-jean pocket in which it had been resting, he unwound his headphones from around the mp3 player. Wedging the small, rubbed buds into his ears immediately, he hit the play button and continued on his way. Despite the fact that it only took him around five minutes to get home in the first place, Kendall had found that having music playing as he walked seemed to make the lonely portion of his walk pass by even faster. This was a great thing, since in the cold, Minnesota temperatures, five minutes could easily feel like five hours.

In any case, he had only gotten two or three feet before he happened to raise his head just in time for something – some_one _– particular to catch and hold his attention. Stopping in his tracks just across the street from an _extremely _familiar-looking blue house, Kendall blinked, eyes focusing in on a familiar sight as he stood in place; sitting upon the front porch of that old house was the petite, dark-headed boy that he had just recently come to be so fascinated with.

For a moment, Kendall simply stood there, mind reeling and lips parting in awe as, finally, the memory of exactly where he had seen Logan before reentered his mind.

x-x-x

"My name's Kendall… what's your name? You're new here, right?" he grinned rather brightly, making a valiant effort, once again, to meet his new, partial acquaintance's eyes. Asking someone's name was the simplest thing that he possibly could have done, right? There wasn't a way in the world that the timid boy wouldn't be able to communicate his own name. Remaining hopeful, Kendall honestly expected that he had to get a response this time around. However, the bright, hopeful young boy received from the edgy child before him something that he hadn't at all come to expect.

Once again jumping no less than a few inches off of the porch, the newcomer emitted a small, frightened sort of squeak. This occurred merely half a second before he raised his left hand to swat Kendall's extended hand from anywhere near his body, and his right to connect a rather forceful punch to a single one of the other boy's baffled green eyes, as well as the brow bone surrounding it.

Gasping sharply as hot tears swelled rapidly along the brims of his eyelids, Kendall pulled as far back from the brunette as he was able and glared (although the "vicious sneer" consisted far more of hurt and rejection than of anger) at him.

"H – Hey, what was that for?!" he squealed in that infuriated, high-pitched tone of voice that seemed to peek from within him every so often. In response to the words, the fragile-looking boy distanced from Kendall just as Kendall had from him, promptly shielding his wide, doe-eyes as well as the majority of his boyish face behind tremulous hands. From behind those quivering, boney fingers radiated gentle sniffles, and every so often, noises that indicated muffled sobbing.

"I… s – s… - no…" he blubbered, seemingly not able to complete any one full sentence – though, clearly, that wasn't an unusual thing for him – between the broken sounds prying their way free of his lungs and the intense, lingering glare of the larger boy before him.

…

x-x-x

_That's it! _the momentarily stunned 17-year-old thought to himself, dragging one hand downward over his face and along his neck as the recollection finally registered with him. Having finally remembered the miniscule bit of history that he had shared with Logan, Kendall was unsure of whether or not he should approach the timid teenager. Something at the back of his mind proceeded to suggest that he keep things strictly professional between them – but then, that was the part of his mind that couldn't help but consider past experience. They had gotten off to a rough start, after all. Sighing quietly, exasperatedly, Kendall once again clicked the play/pause button upon the iPod in his hand, this time to silence the music echoing in his ears.

Despite their falling out as children, today's brief conversation seemed to have gone alright; and, realistically, the time that they had _actually _spent speaking to one another – past or present – had only been around fifteen minutes max. This wasn't long enough for Logan's apparent disdain toward him to be sit in stone… was it? Perhaps he could turn things around, become friends with his assigned partner.

Kendall tugged his headphones from his ears by the cord, nibbling anxiously at his lower lip at his lower lip as he turned slowly in his place. With a few slightly hesitant steps, he began his stride toward Logan, who was settled down with what seemed to be a sketchpad in his lap.

As he stepped onto the sidewalk before the house, he pursed his lips, lowering his eyes for a moment as he re-coiled his head phones and stuffed his iPod in his pocket. He wasn't quite sure what had him so nervous about approaching this boy – that was, aside from the lingering feeling that he may very well come out of the encounter with a black eye, as he had as an 8-year-old. Despite his hesitance, though, he straightened up. Clearing his throat quietly, he put on his very best smile. It was with this confident guise that he continued on toward the house, stopping a few feet from his reclusive classmate.

"Logan..?" he asked, his voice gentle as he addressed the boy. The glasses-clad teenager's head snapped upward instantly, and those wide, childlike eyes fixed upon the taller boy for a few brief moments. It was clear that Logan was a bit shocked to see him.

"K – Kendall!" the shy boy exclaimed, shifting in his spot as he looked upon his classmate. The affable hockey player wasn't able to tell if Logan was excited to see him, or just plain stunned.

"Uh, yeah – hey. I didn't realize that you lived down here too," Kendall spoke apprehensively, gripping his backpack's straps as he had earlier on as he stood before the porcelain-skinned boy. Logan swallowed hard and averted his eyes, nodding his head sharpl.

"Er… yeah, I d – do," he murmured, his suddenly-nervous gaze faltering just a little as it strayed someplace off to the side of Kendall's silhouette. Kendall, figuring that Logan must not have been able to see him too well with the bright sunshine looming behind him, nodded toward the porch upon which his classmate sat.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked, fighting his body's natural instinct to gesture openly as his hands fidgeted restlessly inside the pockets of his hoodie. The friendly boy had always been one to talk using his hands, emphasizing his words by using actions as accompaniment. In this case, though, he didn't know that it was the best idea; regarding Logan's wariness toward physical contact, that was. The last thing that he wanted was to startle his new acquaintance.

As Kendall made his request, the edgy young man closed the notepad that he held with a frantic quickness, clutching the pad to his chest as he scooted aside a foot or so. Once he had shifted, Logan gestured in an odd, restrained fashion toward the area that had been cleared. Kendall thought, briefly, that the little gesture looked more like a strange little twitch than much else.

Removing his hands from his jacket's pockets, the taller of the two smiled a cautious smile as he nodded to his neighbor, stepping forward to seat himself upon the wide, concrete step before Logan's home. He blinked as he raised his eyes not long afterward to catch sight of a quite pale-faced Logan. "Thanks, Logan," he spoke with a friendly smile, folding his hands upon his lap as he glanced up at the small-bodied teen. He was sure that with his withdrawn personality, Logan would be fairly observant when it came to body language, and he wanted to make it as clear as possible to the smaller boy that he wasn't out to hurt him.

"M – Mhm," Logan mumbled, fingers clenching and unclenching restlessly around the edges of the spiral notebook that they held. It was as though he had become overwhelmingly anxious as Kendall sat down – as though he believed that at any moment, the slender boy would turn into a seven-foot-tall angry monster and stomp him into the ground. Kendall, however, completely understood the brunette's actions thanks to their earlier conversation, and offered an apologetic grin as he shifted just a few inches further away from Logan. There was plenty of room, after all, and he had sat just about as close to Logan as he would have to any of his other friends. He clasped his hands before him as he lowered his eyes to the pavement; he had always been a forthcoming person, and sitting within close proximity of someone he was interested in was one of those things that he tended to do without much thought.

As Logan noted the minor movement, those large eyes flitted downward, fixing upon the spot in which Kendall had originally sat. His posture had notably relaxed, although those familiar tremors caused his boney shoulders to quiver, still. Kendall breathed a thoughtful sigh, eyes fixing upon the other boy moments later once again.

"You don't have to be so jittery around me, Logan. I understand that the kids at school are never … _decent_to you, but I would never purposefully startle you like that, I swear," he reassured his friend, stifling the urge to place a gentle hand upon Logan's shoulder.

Breathing a thick sigh, Logan closed his eyes for a short time before drawing his gaze upward hesitantly, purposefully, and gazing into Kendall's kind emerald eyes for a moment.

"Thank you, Kendall," he murmured, seemingly as calmly as he could possibly manage. Kendall recognized this only because he had heard the boy speak in a higher-pitched tone earlier, one that he must have slipped into when he was feeling frantic - as he was now. Nodding, he smiled as his gaze collided with that of the small brunette before him.

Of course, he didn't know exactly how common it was for Logan to make eye contact with someone, but from what he could tell, he had to guess that it was something particularly rare.

"Sure, Logan," Kendall spoke politely after a moment, biting down thoughtfully upon his lower lip as he averted his eyes. He didn't want to make Logan feel as though he were being put on the spot, after all – though he did glance briefly up at Logan every few moments as he spoke. "It's not right, how they treat you."

As the reassuring words were spoken by his thoughtful new partner, Logan's eyes fell away from the profile of the taller boy and settled upon his own lap, narrowing suddenly out of what appeared to be disdain. However, Kendall soon came to realize that the way his classmate's eyes slanted contributed to a slightly different expression, something far from the anger or slight irritation that he had first perceived. After a bit more analyzing, Kendall realized that the emotion in those eyes wasn't anger at all. It was sorrow.

A prominent ache formed within Kendall's chest with the realization, and he sighed quietly, feeling the slightest bit of sorrow within himself for the misunderstood boy. Logan's shoulders slumped, hanging limply over his knees as he whispered a short, mangled sentence.

"I'm n – never… t – treated any d..d – different. M'used to it," he spoke tonelessly, allowing the messy, dark hair that was so often strewn about in all different directions to hang over his eyes haphazardly, shielding them more so than his thick-framed glasses already did.

It was unclear to Kendall whether or not his innocent young friend had begun to cry, since Logan's form seemed to tremble as it did now on a regular basis. Whether or not there _were_ tears falling, though, he felt the need to comfort the brunette all the same. Clasping his hands together more tightly, the larger of the two sighed quietly and leaned forward in the effort of seeing past that soft curtain of hair.

"It doesn't seem like you're used to it. It seems like it upsets you." Kendall spoke gently, lips pressing into a tight line as he shook his head to punctuate his sentence. Just after he had spoken his words, Kendall heard Logan draw in a sharp breath. Moments later, the smaller boy raised his head, eyes glassy as he peered into the empty space in front of him once again rather than meeting his classmate's gaze. Though his eyes seemed to speak paragraphs, he remained silent, and since Logan didn't seem to have anything to say on the matter, Kendall resumed speaking. "Like I said… it's not _right_. You don't deserve to be treated that way," he reassured the quiet young man, pursing his lips as he continued to gaze at Logan for a moment.

It was at that point that the petite boy released a pathetic-sounding whimper, apparently having broken emotionally. His full lower lip began to tremble as moisture swelled along the brims of his eyelids, definitely, this time. As far as Kendall could tell, it wasn't very often that Logan allowed emotions of this nature to show through – likely for fear of being tormented in worse a way than he was already – and he hoped that now, in his presence, the mistreated boy felt that it was alright to do such a thing. _After all, _Kendall pondered, _no one should have to live without a shoulder to cry on. _ boy's syllables broke was more heartbreaking than usual, Kendall noted, and that notion only seemed to be intensified as a single stripe of moisture ghosted its way downward, painting Logan's flushing skin with its subtle shine. "Everyone…"

Once again, Kendall sighed, unclasping his hands and straightening up a bit before speaking again. "Logan, look at me." he requested, expression calm as he watched the other boy closely for a moment. Logan seemed to hesitate for a moment, sitting still for a while as though he were resisting. After so long, though Kendall noticed his project partner swallowing hard. Just after that, Logan gave a tiny nod.

Kendall anxiously awaited his new friend's next action and just a few seconds later, the brunette stirred, rotating in his place so that he faced Kendall. It took him a bit longer than it might have a "normal" person, so to speak, but Logan's eyes eventually found their way up from his lap, settling upon the face of the friendly boy before him. It seemed that Logan was doing the absolute best that he could to fully face Kendall without cowering away like a mistreated puppy, because it was another good few moments before the smaller boy's gaze fully connected with Kendall's.

Shifting just a little bit in his own spot, Kendall smiled at Logan. "Do you trust me when I say that I won't hurt you?" the taller of the two questioned, eyes remaining warm and placid as he gazed at the misunderstood boy. Logan sat as still as a statue, gazing blankly at Kendall as though he had absolutely no idea what his classmate had just asked him. However, after some time, the boy emitted an almost-exasperated sounding grunt.

"I – I… um… I don't know." he murmured, his voice coming forth in the form of a few soft squeaks. Kendall sighed softly; Logan was beginning to look a little green, perhaps as though his stomach were churning into an uproar due to the nerves that boiled beneath his skin. He wasn't surprised, truly, to hear that Logan wasn't entirely sure what to think of him. After all, the poor guy didn't seem to have a friend in the world. In any case, the fair-haired teenager didn't plan to allow a little bit of hesitance to prevent him from trying.

"Well," he murmured, holding Logan's timid gaze as he went on, "would you let me _prove _to you that I won't hurt you?"

Logan anxiously wore away at his lower lip as his new acquaintance spoke, and as he considered what Kendall's suggestion could possibly have meant for him, he seemed to falter a bit. He had been the victim of schemes like this before; people pretending to be kind, to take an interest in him for a brief moment only to turn on him just as he gave them his trust. However, there was something about Kendall that struck him as extremely genuine – something that made him want badly to be able to trust the boy. After all, Kendall had tried once – long ago, but yet – to be his friend. What if that was all that the blonde boy wanted now? Logan sighed – this internal conflict was beginning to make his head hurt.

And apparently, he had been sitting there, looking at Kendall in silence and contemplating for a moment or two longer than he had thought, because after a moment or two Kendall spoke up once again.

"Logan… close your eyes." the kind teenager murmured, smiling and nodding briefly toward Logan as a signal for him to comply. Logan's brow furrowed. He still didn't have any idea what Kendall's intentions were, but then… if he didn't give his partner the benefit of the doubt, he would never know, would he? Another whimper brushed past his lips as his whirring mind seemed to reach a conclusion, and finally, he nodded his head.

Kendall watched carefully as Logan seemed to inhale deeply as a form of preparation, and a smile took his lips as the smaller boy did as he had been asked and shut his eyes. The edgy young man was still tense and it looked like he might have been holding his breath, but all the same, it pleased Kendall to know that Logan trusted him enough to grant him this opportunity. After a bit, it even seemed that Logan had found it in himself to relax; though, Kendall considered, that may have been due to the fact that he no longer had to make any eye contact.

Whatever the case, it didn't make much of a difference, because as soon as Kendall made his first move, that scarce bit of composure shattered immediately. Reaching forward with one hand, the taller boy gripped the frames of Logan's glasses and began to draw them forward and off of Logan. He hadn't thought that the minor action would go over too badly, but it seemed that as soon as the petite brunette felt the tiny shift of his glasses, any trust that Kendall may have gained from him went right out the window.

Squeezing his eyes shut what could have been as tight as humanly possible, Logan gasped. The quakes radiating from within him seemed to intensify by twenty times, and he shook his head in a way nothing short of frantic as the gasp that he had taken let off into several breathless whimpers. The sounds pouring from the frightened boy's lips reminded Kendall of the sounds that a wounded puppy might have made, and immediately, he felt guilty for ever having thought up this idea of his; perhaps he should have asked Logan's permission first. However, now that he had gotten this far – and without Logan having hauled off and started beating him – Kendall felt the need to press on. He did have a point to prove, after all.

"Tell me to stop if I'm making you _extremely _uncomfortable – I swear that I will – but can you open your eyes for a second?" he said, resting each of his hands in his lap, now, one holding his classmate's glasses with care while the other lay palm up. Just as he had a few minutes ago, Logan appeared completely oblivious to Kendall's question. His eyes remained tightly closed as he breathed hard – it almost looked as though his ribcage were collapsing in on itself. The blonde considered his acquaintance's silence, and briefly wondered whether or not he shouldn't just stand up, apologize, and walk away.

After a moment or two, however, Logan apparently chose to agree to his request, as those long, dark lashes fluttered, smearing his unwept tears about the skin beneath his eyes. Despite having opened his eyes as Kendall had asked, though, the smaller boy did not meet his classmate's eyes as he proceeded to blink away tears. He opted instead to gaze at Kendall's hands resting just a short distance from his body.

Offering Logan a reassuring nod, Kendall smiled. He took a breath in preparation before proceeding on to his next action, which, to say the least, was even bolder than the last. Raising his empty hand from his lap, Kendall bit down anxiously upon his lower lip – it was safe to say that he expected nothing but the worst as a result of this small leap of faith, and that was even before he noted the expression upon his new friend's boyish face.

Kendall might have stopped, might have second-guessed himself – that was, had it not been for the fact that his project partner seemed to be doing everything that he could to keep his composure. Though he appeared rattled to no end at the sight of the hand stretching toward him, it seemed as though Logan was giving his best effort _not_ to screech at him to stop what he was doing. After a few seconds, Logan's eyes had strayed from his hand and were instead flitting about hectically, never resting on any object in particular – for a moment, in those frantic doe eyes, Kendall saw the face of the child that he had come upon so many years ago. And in that moment, Kendall felt terribly bad for Logan.

_He_ knew that his intentions were good, and that they would never be anything but, but that didn't change the fact that Logan more than likely expected to be swatted at or shoved as he had been earlier today. It was because of this that as he did proceed, Kendall took extra care in being as gentle as possible as he brushed his fingertips along one of the smaller boy's cheekbones. With two feather light strokes, he smeared away the glistening moisture that lingered beneath Logan's eyes and drew his hand away shortly afterward. Gazing at his classmate, he smiled – with the retraction of his hand, it was apparent that Logan's nerves settled a bit, though nowhere near completely. After a moment, the timid boy's brow began to furrow. Offering the glasses that he had borrowed back to the brunette, Kendall smiled.

"You don't deserve to be bullied, Logan. Everyone needs a friend," he spoke, tilting his head as Logan hesitantly reached for his glasses and then hastily replaced them upon the bridge of his nose as soon as he had retrieved them. As the touchy teen simply proceeded to shiver, shaking his head, Kendall sighed. He tightened his hoodie around his slender frame as he went on speaking. "Believe me, I know that. I had no friends as a kid… that's why I approached you so bluntly when I was eight."

Kendall hadn't known exactly what to expect as he spoke his last sentence – after all, he wasn't sure that Logan even remembered their meeting. However, as he heard a little squeak from beside him, he couldn't help but grin.

"Y – You remember!" Logan half-squealed, straightening his posture notably – out of excitement, Kendall hoped – and gazing upon his classmate's smiling face for a moment before sheepishly averting his eyes once more. Chuckling quietly, the optimistic blonde turned toward his skittish friend, nodding his head as he watched the boy intently.

"Of course I do. I didn't realize at first that you were the same boy I met all those years ago, but it's pretty clear to me now. I remember meeting you here when we were younger."

Logan wore away at his full lower lip as he listened to Kendall speak, and after a moment nodded his head. He sighed sharply just before speaking. "I do t-…too," he near whispered, cheeks flushing a deep rosy color as his voice trembled just a little.

"I'm sorry I didn't understand you then… and for calling you a 'meanie'," the taller boy laughed, shaking his head as Logan caught his gaze once more and held it for a few good moments. The glasses-clad teenager opened and closed his mouth a few times as he seemed to process Kendall's words, and eventually his gaze drifted down into his lap, brow knitting. Pondering his friend's slightly grim expression, Kendall raised an eyebrow – clearly, there was something on Logan's mind.

"S – Sorry I… I hit you. I d – didn't mean it," the jittery boy mused after a second or two more of silence, eyes darting about frantically as he began to wring his hands around and around one another. Kendall shook his head, though, cracking a smile as he waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, Logan. I know why you reacted how you did, now, and I forgive you," he smiled, shrugging as he raised his eyebrows and dropped them in a gesture very similar to the one that his shoulders had just made. Nodding once again, Logan exhaled shakily. For a moment the smaller boy appeared to be staring vacantly into his lap, but after so long, Kendall came to realize that Logan's eyes had narrowed upon the spiral notebook, still sitting in his lap. The hockey player wondered briefly what must have been running through his partner's mind this time, but didn't have much time to do so before his thoughts were interrupted unexpectedly.

Before Kendall could speak or even take another breath, Logan had taken the notepad into his hands and flipped through a good half of the pages. After doing so, he thrusted the notebook in Kendall's direction.

"Here, l – look." he spoke quickly. His gaze was pointedly directed toward the ground as a shaky hand held the notebook suspended before his friend. Blinking a time or two as he attempted to decipher what it might have been that Logan wanted him to see, Kendall smiled gently, brow furrowing as he took Logan's notebook in hand and lowered his eyes to the page that had been chosen. It took a second for the taller boy to really register what it was that he was looking at, but as it finally hit him, his eyes widened. Upon the simple, lined paper was what had to have been some of the best and most intricate pencil drawings that he had ever seen.

"Logan, these… these are _amazing_," Kendall spoke in an awe-stricken tone of voice, eyes still focused upon the works of art before him. Not only were the drawings greatly detailed and wonderfully sketched, however – they were also depictions of images that Kendall recognized clearly from certain memories; memories that, particularly, had been made upon the day that he and Logan had met.

First, there was a picture of a youthful-looking eye with heavy shading surrounding its outline – shading that was apparently meant to look like heavy bruising. Blinking as he looked into what appeared to be a reflection of his own eye, Kendall moved on to analyze the next work of art. This one depicted the hand of a little boy, drawn up to the wrist and clutching a frayed tree branch. Every detail was spot-on, just the way that Kendall remembered them -perhaps even better than that. Just as the taller boy's intent gaze drifted on to the last of the three sketches – the silhouette of a small boy running along a sidewalk - Logan's hushed voice chimed in once again.

"I – I'm… I'm a – autistic." the artistic young man sputtered, appearing to be nervous of the reaction that his project partner would have to his revelation. As he spoke, his gaze was drawn off to one side. "E – Everyone says I… m'stupid, because I can't t-…t – talk well, or… learn th – through... words. But I do l – learn. Just… through p-…pictures n'stead."

Glancing up from his partner's notebook, Kendall nodded, completely disregarding the way that Logan stuttered so heavily – so constantly. "So you have a photographic memory, then," he stated matter-of-factly, immediately fascinated with Logan's way of life. Knowing, now, exactly why the boy acted the way that he did, much of what had happened between them now made sense to Kendall.

Logan directed his gaze toward the considerate boy, though he didn't look directly into his eyes, and nodded. "Y – Yes. And my… my hearing. I – it's… it's…" he began before his voice tapered off. It didn't seem that he could find the correct words to explain his thoughts. After a moment, he scrunched up his expression and chose more simply to make a gesture near to his ears that indicated an incredibly loud noise, or an explosion of sorts. Kendall gazed at Logan for a moment before averting his gaze and looking into the distance. There wasn't a large variety of things that such a gesture could have meant, so he decided to pick out the first thought that came to mind.

"Intensified, you mean?" he asked softly as he attempted to visualize what his new friend's life may have been like if his inquiry was correct. The taller boy vaguely heard his friend confirm his assumption as he pondered each and every detail related to amplified hearing that may have made Logan's life more difficult than his own, or anyone else's.

"I – I… um, I… h – hear things… maybe… th – three or four t – times louder than anyone e – else." the small-bodied boy whispered, his frame lightly trembling as he explained one of the details regarding his condition. This detail in particular caused Kendall's eyes to widen, and instantly, he felt the need to apologize to his classmate for anything that he may have done to aggravate his heightened sense of hearing.

"_God_… how do you manage being at school with all of the obnoxious noises around you?" the stunned young man asked, his voice subconsciously having lowered a considerable amount in favor of Logan. It was mindboggling to think that Logan could probably hear him completely clearly even if he had only whispered in response to his friend. With a soft, forced little cough, Logan shook his head, raising one hand to press to his forehead.

"I u – usually get… h… h – headaches," he murmured, shaking his head slowly. "But I… I g-…get by, cause I like l-learn'n."

Sighing heavily, Kendall forced down the urge to reach out and place a hand upon his poor friend's shoulder. He couldn't piece together why it was that no one ever bothered to sit down with Logan, to help him and guide him rather than hurting his chances of success in a world bigger than he was. Surely the kid had to have been a rather bright student, inwardly.

"Couldn't you have been homeschooled?" the blonde murmured, carefully observing his classmate's every move as the other boy's shoulders slumped and he hunched forward. His body trembled even more harshly than before, and for a good moment or two, Logan covered his eyes with the hand that had previously pressed to his forehead. After so long, Logan's boyish face was once again revealed from behind those tremulous fingers, and Kendall noted that his friend's eyes had glazed over with moisture once again.

"N – No," Logan answered simply, the softest little sniffle escaping him as he shook his head briefly. Biting down hard upon his lower lip, Kendall shifted ever so slightly closer to his friend. Near instantly, he understood the reason behind Logan's upset, and he grunted, torn.

"I'm _so _sorry, Loges," he mused, gazing down upon his palms as he uttered the affectionate little nickname. "I wish I could do something to help you."

A brief moment of silence passed as the two teenage boys sat side by side upon the porch of the old blue house. The most – besides the sounds of everyday life – that Kendall could hear was the sound of Logan's ragged breathing, and for those few moments in time, the quick-witted teenager was rendered completely speechless. Kendall had always been the one among his group of friends, his family, to provide all of the answers, a joke or a witty remark to lift someone's spirits. However, for Logan's case in particular, he hadn't any answers, jokes, or witty remarks.

The silence didn't last much longer, though, as a minute or two later, Logan spoke up. "K – Kendall… why're you… n-…n – nice?" he asked quietly, pearly white teeth again gnashing into his lower lap for all they were worth. Kendall was beginning to wonder how the brunette's full lower lip wasn't always completely raw, since biting at it seemed to be a nervous habit of his, and, quite obviously, he was _always _nervous.

Softening his thoughtful guise as he turned to gaze at Logan, Kendall shook his head, heart aching for the gentle boy. "Loges, not _everyone _is cold-hearted. I know that it's difficult to believe, because high-school is a living _hell _for anyone who's the slightest bit different. But not everyone will treat you like some kind of alien, I promise," he spoke lightheartedly, casting a friendly smile in the direction of his autistic friend.

Though he frowned, still, Logan seemed to accept the answer that he was given, as after a few seconds he nodded and closed his eyes. After that, the peaceful silence seemed to weigh between them once again, and Kendall breath a quiet sigh out through his nose a he averted his gaze once more. He was curious, of course, about the other aspects of Logan's condition, but he certainly didn't want to push his friend. He figured that he had likely done enough of that for the day, and aside from that, the introverted boy more than likely wouldn't want someone who he had only realistically known for about an hour prying for information. Kendall certainly knew that when _he _was down about something of larger magnitude than spilled milk or a failed test, he certainly didn't want people poking and prodding at him.

Several moments seemed to pass as the boys simply sat together in silence, but the serenity was broken once again, eventually, and again, it was Logan who was the one to break it. Kendall had just begun pondering what time it might have been, now, when he noticed movement out of his peripherals. At first he figured that Logan may simply have been adjusting his position or reaching for his notebook, and he adjusted himself to allow the antsy boy to do so. What Kendall _hadn't _expected, however, was the light touch of fingertips that he felt upon his forearm just seconds later. Freezing for a moment, Kendall blinked – it was particularly shocking to him, knowing that Logan would have been willing to take this kind of leap toward being close to him - or anyone, really – regarding his phobia of touch.

Sooner or later, the blonde boy's slightly wide eyes flitted to gaze upon Logan's trembling fingertips, and his gaze lingered there for a moment before shifting to his friend's face. The smaller boy's eyes were closed, and as Kendall watched, he noticed the pale-skinned boy exhaling sharply. This was just before those large eyes opened up, revealing the tears that had begun clouding along Logan's long, dark lashes for the third time that afternoon.

Sighing, as he knew that Logan had to have been afraid despite the valiant effort, the taller of the two kept as still as he was able. He without a doubt felt the need to snatch his friend's hand up in what should have been a comforting grip, but he was well-aware that such a thing may only have frightened Logan more. A third moment of stillness seemed to pass between them before anything more happened, and when something did happen, it wasn't anything big.

Though he flinched as he did so, Logan shifted just a little bit, fingertips skidding along Kendall's forearm until they reached the hockey player's wrist. Kendall smiled, and near subconsciously moved his arm beneath the brunette's hand so that those trembling fingertips slid down into his palm. A few seconds later, he glanced up at Logan as his class partner stared into the dead air before his eyes. He gazed on for a moment, and once again, rather than questioning the edgy boy, he breathed a quiet sigh, opting to stay quiet as he drew his own thoughtful gaze toward the darkening sky.

It was as he noted the bluish-gray color of the sky, obviously having darkened a good bit since he had sat down, that Kendall realized just how long he had really been sitting with Logan. Hockey practice had let out around 3:00, and if it was getting dark out, it had to have been nearly an hour and a half. Suddenly, the blonde wondered if he possibly could have missed dinner at home, and reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone so that he could check the time. Pressing a button upon one side of the device to light up the screen, he blinked as he noted that the exact time was 4:45 - that meant that he had sat and talked with Logan for _upwards _of an hour and a half.

Kendall knew that his mother was more than laid-back about him staying out and fooling around with his friends – that was, as long as he called and informed her that he was going to be doing so. Blinking at the thought, Kendall's brow furrowed and he nudged his phone back into the pocket it had been resting within. He wanted to stay with Logan, get to know his friend better… but he definitely didn't want to be denied that very opportunity later on because his mom was upset with him. As distracted as he was with his sudden thoughts, however, Kendall was abruptly brought back into current time as a meek voice chimed in from beside him.

"You… you have to… g – go?" Logan murmured, the hand that remained set atop Kendall's beginning to tremble. Not having realized that the quiet boy had been watching him – or had heard him, perhaps – the taller boy returned his eyes to his friend's profile, smiling halfheartedly as he nodded his head.

"Soon, probably," he spoke gently, moving his hand cautiously beneath Logan's. After awaiting the reaction that the smaller teen would have to his movement (which was no more than a tiny flinch), the blonde warily clasped his slender fingers around Logan's hand fully. Logan shivered in response to the gentle action, eyelashes fluttering as he flinched once more. "My mom is probably wondering where I am by now."

As a strangled little cough was forced from his throat, Logan whimpered quietly. This drew Kendall's attention, and with a soft sigh, the reluctant boy cast an apologetic smile in his friend's direction. In the next moment, he loosened the grip that he had over Logan's palm before drawing his hand away entirely.

"Sorry… "Kendall whispered, averting his gaze from Logan's face as not to startle him or put him on the spot anymore than he already had. As his eyes lowered, though, he came to realize that he still held his friend's notebook in his lap. At once, he picked the notepad up, turning back the pages with his free hand until the cover was where it belonged, atop the front page. Smiling, he then extended the spiral-bound book in Logan's direction. "Here, I forgot to give this—" Kendall began.

"N – No!" the brunette squeaked unexpectedly, curling into himself entirely and knotting his fingers up in his short, dark hair before Kendall could finish speaking. "D… D – Don't, please!"

Startled by Logan's sudden outburst, Kendall jumped backward a few inches. He wasn't sure of what he had done to entice such a reaction from the boy. "L – Logan?" he asked quietly. His voice was slightly high-pitched as he spoke – he didn't like the sight of his classmate so upset one bit. If he was honest, it frightened him. "What's wrong..?"

At first, all that was distinguishable was a gentle and constant whining sound, which radiated from behind Logan's hands as they had moved to cover his face. After so long, his upper body hunched over his knees. It didn't sound as though he were crying, but the way that his body had begun to rock forward and back and forward and back repeatedly obviously communicated that something was off.

Kendall watched, awe-stricken as his new friend seemed to melt down before his eyes. In more than a few ways, he was suddenly reminded of the very first time that he had seen Logan. Soon after he had begun to whimper, Logan had begun sputtering words that were more than a little broken – words that, really, Kendall was only able to find one meaning within.

"I – I… n-… n – no… y – you – you c – can't, don't, p… p – please…" he stuttered frantically, obviously unable to construct a sentence legible enough to make his classmate understand what he was trying to say. Sighing softly, said classmate took a swing at the meaning behind Logan's distraught reaction, and decided that it would be a good idea to act on the inclination that it gave him.

"I'm so, _so _sorry, Loges… I didn't mean to… to startle you. I'll just – um, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" the uncharacteristically anxious teenager stammered, nibbling at his chapped lower lip as he rose from his seat beside the other boy. He then turned to set the sketchbook that he still held down on the porch. As he straightened up once more, he offered Logan a semi-genuine smile. Just as he was about to turn and stride down the street, though, Kendall was stopped in his tracks by the petite brunette, who still looked rather distraught.

"K – Kendall!" Logan squealed, springing up from his seat as well as he became aware of the scuffing of his friend's sneakers on the walk. The shorter boy's arm instantaneously shot outward as he came within reach, and his balmy fingers clasped tightly around Kendall's wrist. He tugged instinctively, pulling the blonde backward slightly. "You d – don't… have to l… l – leave."

As the fretful boy forced out his last words, Kendall sighed softly. Turning back toward Logan, he smiled a gentle smile and glanced down at the boy's hand upon his wrist. As he noticed what Kendall was looking at, Logan jerked his hand away. A chill ran through him as he squeaked quietly once more.

"M'sorry." he murmured meekly as tears swelled along his lower lashes once again. Kendall wasn't sure if Logan was apologizing for grabbing at him or for his outburst, though he had a feeling that it was likely the latter. Whatever the case, the blonde smiled a gentle smile, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it, Loges... it wasn't your fault. And I've gotta go home anyway, so… I'll just give you some time to relax, okay? We'll see each other tomorrow, I promise." Kendall spoke in a gentle tone of voice, not wanting Logan to feel as though he had been scared off. That was certainly not the case.

Logan's lips quivered as he kept his gaze down and nodded shakily as he peered down at his old sneakers. His boyish face twisted up with something that appeared to be dejection, and after a few seconds, Kendall became aware of the tears pooling beneath Logan's eyes. He frowned at the sight of them. Quiet little sounds were now spilling past the smaller boy's lips as he stood there, shoulders slumped and quaking as always.

"Loges… I'm not leaving because of you, okay? I promise. I was just worried that I was pushing too hard, too fast… and I'm sure my mom really does want me home." Kendall explained, doing his best to give his fragile friend some reassurance. After a moment or two Logan nodded sharply, swallowing hard as both of his hands flitted upward, scrubbing at his wet cheeks.

"K – Kay." he muttered, glancing up at Kendall briefly. Catching Logan's big, wet brown eyes, the captain of Shakopee high's hockey team frowned once again. That familiar sympathetic ache festered within his chest as he watched Logan, and after a moment, he sighed. He couldn't imagine what Logan truly must have been going through. There was so much raw emotion and pain in those eyes, and despite having seen it several times today, it was slightly different when the tears were in the context of Logan clinging to him – metaphorically, of course – and begging him not to leave. Shaking his head a bit, Kendall forced a small smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Maybe we'll work on the English review project after school." he suggested, hopeful that the idea would cheer Logan up. It seemed to work, seeing as Logan glanced up at him once more, nodding his head and as he kept eye contact for a moment. Kendall did his best to ignore the fact that his new friend's eyes were still slightly moist.

"I… O – Okay, Kendall," the brunette murmured, sighing softly as he stepped back from his classmate a bit. The taller boy did the same, offering Logan a little wave and yet another halfhearted smile as he did so. The longer that Kendall stood, gazing at his new friend and that dejected posture of his, the more he found himself wanting to call him mom and claim that he wouldn't be home for a few hours.

"Bye, Loges," he smiled, finally, waiting just a second more before turning to cross the street and heading onto the path that would lead him home. As the kindhearted boy walked, he worried at his lower lip. He knew that he would see Logan less than 24 hours from now, and that they would be spending more than enough time together from now on… He would have plenty of time to do everything he wanted, should his time with Logan continue to be successful as it had been today.

Honestly, his list of goals was endless – he wanted to teach Logan things, help him out, and try and make him at least a couple of new friends. He wanted to introduce him to Carlos and James, and his mother and sister; show him that he truly wasn't lying when he said that not everyone would alienate him. He had all of the time in the world to do these things with Logan, and there wasn't anything that would stop him.

All of this was true. But even so, as he approached his own home and glanced over his shoulder to see a petite figure still standing alone in his driveway, it didn't change the fact that Kendall felt just a little guilty for having left Logan's side tonight.

* * *

**Kogan fluff overload! You like? :) Hopefully. How many of you guessed that Logan was autistic? I'm curious. **

**As a side-note, if any of you have any experience with someone who's autistic, and my details aren't accurate, I apologize in advance. This story is based loosely around a movie that I saw once, and I'm using what I got out of that movie. ^^ I don't mean any offense to anyone. **

**I love you all! New chapter coming relatively soon. c:**


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